Benjamin West – 1738-1820

One of the most important of early American painters, West reversed the usual situation—in which an American painter studied abroad then returned to America—by getting the bulk of his artistic training in America, supplementing it by study in Italy, then settling in England, where he was celebrated as a painter of historical and mythological subjects. His patron was no less than King George III. West, who was a founder of the Royal Academy in 1768, had an extensive influence on history painting in England.